Monday, 30 April 2007

Sea Gypsys

The trip to Pulau Sibu off the east coast of Malaysia was a great success. We stayed at the Sea Gypsy resort again as we had such a good time when we went for one night in November 2006 with Jon and Tracey. Was definitely worth the return trip.

Leigh and I had our 2 and Natalie in one large family chalet. Natalie kept commenting it was just "like being on Lost!!" and was even more convinced she was being drawn into the Dharma Initiative when she opened her bedroom window to look at the sea AND a little concrete bunker.

Dad and Julie definitely got the best chalet available - "V1" in case I forget in the future. It sits right on the beach - and I say this with ours being not so close at maybe 15ft from start of the beach! Their bed was opposite the door and when it blew open on their first night, this was the view Julie woke up to......

Not bad eh?

The view from my window wasn't quite the same and I'm afraid I didn't wake for sunrise. However, I did have a little afternoon snooze one day and this is what I saw when I woke up...

Wish the view was like that from Waterside Lane!

We were lucky that the resort was coming to the end of a busy period as all the international schools in Malaysia and Singapore were back to school except for ours. On the first night there were about 20 people there but by the next morning, we were the only ones on the island with just the staff. By afternoon we were joined by 2 British girls who were backpacking around Asia, but they seemed content to sleep in their chalet so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

The staff took us to a deserted island one morning for a bit of snorkeling. The islands are within a marine conservation area as it contains a coral reef. It was great fun but the kids found the most exciting thing to be the dead giant turtle we found on the beach. No camera with us so can only say, take it from me this thing was huge!

Ollie learnt to climb trees whilst we were away, but often got a bit too high and would shout till someone would come and save him. Aimee was ecstatic to find one of her classmates was on the island for the first day and even managed a sleepover that night. Unfortunately she had an allergic reaction to some sand fly bites but that didn't kick in until we got home. No doubt the reaction was assisted by the fact she was rolling in the sand and sea constantly and took the sea gypsy motto to heart again.

These are some of favourite pics of the trip and of course, a video clip just cause i got it and know how to load it on this blog!

Other than the snorkelling we just chilled out, ate and drank really. Was a great way to end Dad, Julie and Natalie's visit as they went home a few days later. Before they left, Dad and I did manage to drag Natalie to the nearby McRitchie Nature Reserve so we could cross the rainforest canopy via a wibbly-wobbly bridge. You can see Natalie and I were just a bit sweaty by the time we got up there - and you'll see just how impressed she was that we made her walk for 2 hours to look at the tops of trees...

Aimee and I cried at the airport AGAIN saying goodbye to Dad, Julie and Natalie. It was great having them to stay but holidays have to come to an end. I've made my peace with my crying in the airport now but its tough for those leaving when I'm sobbing. The distance never seems quite so bad until someone is getting on a plane to go back to England.

Still, we have some friendly faces to turn to in the airport now as the staff in the sweetshop and the coffee shop know me and the kids so well they've started to say "oh its you lot again" and promptly ply the kids with free jellybeans and know my coffee order before I even open my mouth.

Next visitors are Leigh's parents who arrive next tuesday. In between times, Leigh and I just took a quick visit to Bangkok over the weekend to visit some friends, but more about that next time as I'm all blogged out for now.

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The New Addition....

Annabelle Rose Leather born on 9 February 2008

Finally! A picture of all 5 of us.

Life in Singapore

I've started this Blog so I can share our experiences in Asia with our friends and family in the UK.
Since moving to Singapore in July 2006 life has been hectic but fun and I hope this Blog will serve as a Diary of our time here which we can look back on when we return to England.
I'll be posting photographs and video clips with notes on what we have been up to, please feel free to leave your comments.

About Me

I'm a thirty something former Lawyer who spends her life cleaning, shopping & cooking for her 3 children, 1 husband and a crazy small dog in the beautiful English countryside. I love my family, frothy coffee, good food, bad tv and gossip but not always in that order!